Research Project 1- Targeted Nanocarrier Combination Based Therapy for Lung Cancer - Dr. Mandip Sachdeva: Lung cancer incidence rate in African American is 50% higher than that of white Americans. African Americans have the highest cancer incidence and mortality rates of any racial/ethnic minority group in the U.S. Furthermore, its incidence continues to steadily rise among both African and white American women. The age adjusted death rate among African American population from lung cancer was found to be 12%. The recommended first line of chemotherapy In NSCLC is platinum based combination chemotherapy. Despite recent advances in chemotherapy, response rates in NSCLC remain <50% and also chemotherapy is associated with adverse effects. This necessitates investigation on chemotherapeutic options having potent anticancer activity and lower side effects to improve therapeutic outcomes in treatment of lung cancer. Noscapine (Nos). an antimicrotubular agent, has been shown to have promising anticancer activity. Our laboratory has already demonstrated that oral administration of Nos significantiy regress tumor growth in dose dependent manner in H460 xenograft tumor model. The use of Nos has been limited due to extensive first pass metabolism and poor bioavailability. Therefore, enhancing oral bioavailability of Nos using nanocarrier delivery system which can bypass the first pass effect (coated with mannosamine) and delivering in combination with chemotherapeutic agents to exert synergistic antitumor activity is a novel approach in treatment of lung cancer.